Time Well Spent
by Shiny Lilligant
Summary: If he had transferred earlier, then the three would have had more time together (and this is probably how they would spend it).
1. What I Like About You

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _The Girl Who Leapt Through Time_.

**What I Like About You**

From the distance, Kousuke could spot Makoto and Chiaki under a tree near their beloved baseball field.

"Who's idea was it to play baseball on the hottest day of the month?" Kousuke yelled as he leisurely approached them, hands deep in his pockets, baseball bag strapped around his body. Chiaki weakly lifted his aluminum bat, pointing to the brown-haired girl stretching to his left.

"Sorry, Kousuke!" Makoto shouted back. "I know you were busy studying for finals!"

"And yet you called me." An embarrassed grin coloured Makoto's face. Kousuke entered the shade, his glance shifting to the red-head casually leaning against the tree. "You okay, Chiaki?"

"Never been better," Chiaki replied. "Now that we're all here, let's go soak in some sunshine."

"Yeah, let the games begin!" Makoto dramatically wound up her arm and tossed the one baseball they had into the centre of the dirt field.

"Weak throw, Makoto," Chiaki teased. "Let me show you how it's done."

"Oh no you don't!" Makoto shot a glare at him. "I called pitcher first. You're going to bat and Kousuke's going to catch."

"I'm going to regress with a pitcher like you."

"What was that?"

"Are you deaf? I said-"

Like a bolt from the blue, both Makoto and Chiaki felt a smack on the back of their head. "Good grief," Kousuke sighed. "If you guys have so much energy left, come and waste it with me out there."

"Fine," the two responded, almost simultaneously.

As they walked, Chiaki sneaked a glimpse of the competitive flame burning in Makoto's eyes. A smile lit his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Here it is: my first short fanfic, inspired by my three favourite anime characters of all time and xxfatal's amazing Stitches. I haven't done any creative writing in years, so I hope you readers didn't find it a complete bore.


	2. Unmotivated

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _The Girl Who Leapt Through Time_.

**Unmotivated**

"Makoto, you look hideous today." It was Chiaki. Makoto stared at his unusually pale face as he made his way to the window seat diagonal to her. His voice sounded normal, but he looked like he was also coming down with a cold.

"Right back at you," Makoto muttered. Finally giving into her fatigue, she put her head down. It wasn't long before she was reminded of what made runny noses so annoying, and began sniffing.

"Hey, Makoto." She lifted her head back up and noticed Chiaki's hand dangling a piece of tissue paper in front of her.

"Thanks." She grabbed it, wiped her nose, and proceeded to crumple it up. Only after did she notice there wasn't a box of tissues in sight. "Wait… where did that come from?"

"My pocket. I stuffed a few in there before leaving for school." Makoto's fatigued expression transformed into one of disgust. "What? It's clean, stupid!"

"Evil, be gone!" With a flick, she sent the tissue ball flying at Chiaki. It hit his right arm before he could react.

"That was childish," Chiaki lectured.

"I agree," came a familiar voice.

"You're late, Kousuke." Chiaki tweezed the tissue ball back up and tossed it onto the desk right in front of his. "I punish you with Makoto's germs."

"That was childish," Makoto lectured back. She swiped the ball from Kousuke's desk before he arrived and tossed it into the garbage can at the front of the classroom. "She shoots, she scores!"

Chiaki stared at her in disbelief. _Is she really sick?_

"We're not in gym class," Kousuke said as he sat down. Out of his bag, he revealed a case containing a pair of rectangular, dark blue framed glasses. He slowly put them on, oblivious of the two pairs of eyes fixated on him.

"Kousuke…" Chiaki pointed at him in awe.

"Yeah?"

"When did you get glasses?"

"Yesterday."

"It looks good on you," Makoto complimented.

"Thanks."

Just then, the mathematics teacher pompously waltzed in, tests clutched in his hand.

"Oh, so that's why you two showed up today."

"Hey, I would have been here regardless," Chiaki defended. That much was true. Since he transferred, Chiaki hasn't missed a single class. Makoto rubbed the back of her head, ashamed that she would have skipped in a heartbeat had there been no test. Kousuke took notice of the shame written all over her face and shook his head in disappointment.

"Makoto, you really gotta-"

"You really gotta start taking classes more seriously," Makoto finished. "Yeah yeah, I know. I'll start after I feel better."

A stapled package of paper hit their desks. "Okay class, you have 75 minutes starting… now." Complete silence befell the room. 75 minutes of thinking for Kousuke, struggling for Chiaki, and torture for Makoto.


	3. Motion

**Motion  
><strong>

A chilly breeze welcomed Makoto as she walked out into the schoolyard, prompting her to tighten the beige wool scarf around her neck. Chiaki was right behind her, fitting his arms into his olive green winter coat. "Geez, who woulda guessed it could get this cold in Tokyo."

"This is nothing," said Makoto, stopping in front of her bicycle. "We haven't had an extreme winter in years." She took her hands out of the warm side pockets of her poppy red coat and began moving the dials to her lock. _Seven... two... four. _"Alright, let's g- hey, what are you doing?" Chiaki was looking up at the sky, drifting shamelessly back and forth with his mouth wide open and his tongue stuck out. His eyes glistened with untold excitement as he watched the flakes of snow dance down to his face. Other students passing by giggled at his unusual behaviour. "Oh... how embarrassing," she said, shaking her head. "You're behaving like a little boy who's never seen snow before."

"But I _haven't_ seen snow before. This era- I mean this area... Tokyo, it really is something else." He caught a glimpse of Makoto looking at him in awe and panicked for a bit. "Wh-what is it? Did I say something weird?"

"Um, yeah. You just said you haven't seen snow before."

"Oh, is that it?"

"Hey, you know what? There's a river nearby and it looks _really really_ pretty when the snow falls on the water." She shuffled over to Chiaki with her bike and grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat. "Come on, let's go check it out."

"But we have to drop homework off to Kousuke, remember? The nerd probably won't get better without his daily dose of math and chemistry."

"But-"

"No buts, Makoto. We'll drop it off quickly... and then we'll go."

"Woo-hoo! Last one to Kousuke's is a rotten egg!" Makoto hopped onto her bike and pedalled enthusiastically out of the gate.

"Hey, no fair! You gotta teach me how to ride one of those things sometime! Makoto!"

But it was too late. She was already well on her way.

Konno Makoto waits for no one.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I've done a lot of writing over the last year (most of it technical, for academic purposes), and nothing really compares to writing about these two. This little piece was inspired by yesterday's snowfall, which was bad enough to cancel classes in my area. The winter attire for Makoto and Chiaki were completely inspired by a lovely picture I found on Zerochan. (Just go to the Zerochan website, search "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time snow" and you'll find it.)

My one week break begins soon, so and I promise another update then. Maybe it'll be more Kousuke-centric, since I feel like I've fallen into the trap of neglecting him.

As usual, reviews are always welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and have a happy Lunar New Year!


	4. Not Today

**Not Today**

The afternoon sun poured into the library through the windows. Kousuke sat there almost lifelessly, watching the visible specks of dust dance in the air, wondering what topic he wanted to research for his biology class summative. All of a sudden, a book was dangling in front of him. The person behind him began to whisper.

"Look, Kousuke. It's about the health benefits of laughter." Kousuke slipped the book out of Makoto's hand and began flipping through it. "So what do you think? It has a lot of citation thingies at the back, so it looked pretty credible to me."

"Looks thorough," he whispered back. "Sure, I say go for it."

"Yay! So what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking the medical application of nanotechnology."

"Sounds complex. Perfect for a nerd like you."

"What did you just call me…?"

"A nerd. You know, a person who's boring because they study too much. Chiaki calls you that all the time."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I know he does. I just didn't think you'd start too. Speaking of Chiaki, wasn't he here too?"

"Yeah, upstairs. He's looking for books on quantum biology, or something like that. He can be nerdy every now and then too. No wonder you two get along."

"We have more in common than just that."

Makoto raised a brow. "Oh? What?"

"We both like baseball, basketball, and..."

"And?"

_And we both like you, Konno Makoto._ As true as it is, the words just wouldn't make it out of his throat. The mere thought of her misunderstanding, and the days of awkwardness that would come out of it wasn't worth the risk. "... and, we both like to tease you, of course." He handed the book back to her and pointed to the sign-out counter. "I'm going to find my material upstairs. You're probably dying to get out of here, so we'll meet you at the field in... 20 minutes?" Makoto feigned a grin and skipped away.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> A slight change made to the last paragraph, since I wasn't too happy about it. I know this is a few months late, but I am finally starting to write again (which is _probably_ good news if you're following this story). Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a fantabulous rest of July!


	5. Worth It

**Worth It**

"Matsuda, you bastard!" The hazel haired boy lifted his lab partner up by the collar of his undershirt and breathed relentlessly down his terrified face.

"I'm so sorry, Yzak! I didn't- it was-"

"Shut it! I don't wanna hear excuses, man."

_Here he goes. I heard he clobbered someone in classic literature class earlier this week. But isn't his lab partner sort of a klutz?  
><em>

"Bastard's at it again," Chiaki whispered to Kousuke, who was still focusing exclusively on their chemistry lab.

"You got somethin' to say to me, Chi-a-ki?" Yzak immediately marched over to the two friends (damn proximity) and greeted them with a twisted lip and crossed arms; probably his way of being intimidating, to compensate for his rather thin build.

"Yeah. You're picking on someone weaker than you over a stupid accident." Chiaki pointed to Matsuda, who was now on his knees and shamefully sweeping the fragments of glass with his bare hands. "Look at him. He's sorry, so cut him some slack."

"If that was an accident, then so is this." With one sweep, Yzak knocked over the two friends' entire titration setup. "My bad, man. Forgive me?"

"Okay, that does it." Chiaki snapped and took his best shot at connecting his punching fist to Yzak's jaw. Kousuke exercised his powerful grip and stopped the uppercut halfway, before dragging the resisting red-head out of class and into the men's washroom next door.

"You shouldn't have stopped me," Chiaki unapologetically grumbled. "Matsuda's going to get it later."

"We don't handle rabid dogs with violence. The teachers will deal with it and make sure nothing bad happens to Matsuda."

"You really believe that? Give me a break, Kousuke. He _needs_ a good beating."

"And what will beating him do? Don't answer, let me tell you: he's going to be sore, and then he'll want revenge."

"No, kick his ass he'll get scared."

"Oh, you mean like how Yzak scares people by kicking their asses? Look, I know stooping to his level might not matter to you. You're just looking out for your classmates in your own way. But reality check: you're not invincible, and picking fights _will_ get you expelled."

The possibility of being expelled hadn't crossed his mind until now. He had only been in this time period for a few days, after all. This wasn't his reality, and consequences here meant nothing to him. In that sense, he did think he was invincible.

But, where would he go if he did get expelled? This was the most convenient place by far for keeping track of the the painting's progress. This school was also his source of endless entertainment, and the thought of dwelling in his apartment everyday or wondering around with no one to really associate with irked him greatly.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Good. Let's get back and start over on that lab. We've got a mountain to climb." Kousuke opened the door and noticed Makoto walking in the direction opposite of the cooking class she was supposed to be in. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Oh, Kousuke! My alarm clock broke and I woke up late." Chiaki popped his head out and waved. She blinked twice, and then burst out in laughter. "Wait wait wait, are you two bathroom buddies?"

"No, Makoto, we just have the same pee schedule," Chiaki corrected, knowing full well how Kousuke would react.

It's only been a few days, but it felt like he had known both of them for so much longer. It was the perfect set-up for a difficult and bittersweet farewell, but at that moment, he believed it was completely worth it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>It's been a while, but here's one for your weekend! Had this chapter started a while ago, but I just kept making changes, and this is how it turned out. I'll try to update again soon, but I won't make any promises this time. =P


	6. Predestination Paradox

**Predestination Paradox**

Makoto's high heels clacked with every step she took, until she stopped in front of the one empty blackboard in nostalgic science classroom. Before she knew it, her hand was next to the stub of chalk sitting beside the blackboard eraser. An awkward sense of déjà vu, one that she hadn't felt in a long time, struck her.

_Time waits for no one, _she whispered to herself as she wrote it out. In English. A satisfied smile stretched across her face.

"Who do you suppose wrote that message for us?" Chiaki was in the room now too, playing with the sleeve of his white dress shirt.

She took a step back, leaned against the counter, and brushed her bangs to one side. "My future self? Who knows. If it was someone else entirely, I'm positive they'll be happy to see that we share the same thoughts."

Chiaki walked over and gently plucked the chalk from Makoto's warm hand. Underneath the _for_ that Makoto had written, he drew an arrow pointing up. Beneath that, he drew in a confused emoticon and added the Japanese equivalent of _Huh?_. "Every _ordinary_ day here felt like a test. Can you imagine how rattled I was when I first saw this message?"

"No. Can you imagine how rattled I was when you first asked me out?"

Chiaki's face turned red. "...no. Can you imagine how much courage it took for me to ask you out?"

"Yes. About as much as it took for me to kiss you."

"Excuse me? You n—"

Makoto grabbed him by the tie and pressed her lips against his. All trains of thoughts were lost.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> I'm a huge fan of causality loops, and since the events in Time Well Spent can best be explained as happenings in a different time/world line, I thought this would be a fitting tie-in.

Anyway, thank you for following this seemingly aimless story for as long as you have. The end is closer than you think. ;)


	7. Compatibility

**Compatibility**

Even though she wanted to talk to him, nervousness kept her quiet. She continued to look out the windows, but from this location in the school, there really wasn't much for her to see (or more accurately, to pretend to be interested in); just a few green spaces, and groups of friends idling here and there.

He was leaning against a wall perpendicular to the windows, his hands buried in the side pockets of his dark pants. He gazed at the students coming down the nearby stairs, expecting Kousuke to return any minute now. Every now and then, his eyes drifted to her.

"Hey, Konno. Are you tired today?"

"Not really. Why do you ask?" She posed her question as innocently as he had posed his. The two looked at each other with wide, curious eyes.

"You were sleeping in history class."

"Oh..." Her first reaction was embarrassment for being caught. Rather than dwelling on that though, she quickly moved on to feeling flattered for being noticed, and then sad for realizing how little it took to flatter her. "I was just bored, that's all."

"I guess that class _was_ pretty dry." He smiled, and she reciprocated.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> It took a while to come up with a last chapter that seemed appropriate, and now that I'm sort of happy with it, I may as well publish it before changing my mind. Anyway, thank you very much for reading my first fanfic.


End file.
